Wallsocket

Wallsocket is the second studio album by the American musician Underscores. It was released by Mom + Pop Music on September 22, 2023. After rising to prominence with her debut album Fishmonger in March 2021, Underscores began recording Wallsocket in January 2022, with a higher budget than its predecessor. The album is based upon the fictional setting of Wallsocket, Michigan, inspired by the Idaho home of her grandparents, social commentary on the upper middle class in slasher films, and rural American horror films. The songs were written acoustically first and inspired by country and blues sonics, as well as 2010s pop aesthetics. The album features collaborations with Gabby Start, Henhouse!, and Jane Remover.

Wallsocket is primarily pop, rock, and folk, with a large sonic palette and stark turns. A concept album about three girls from navigating adulthood, it explores themes of corporatization, religion, gun violence, and class resentment. Across the album's characters, Underscores also discussed transgender identity and the horseshoe theory. Wallsocket was promoted with four singles, a tour across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and an alternate reality game involving websites of its fictional town setting. Critics praised the album's frenzied production and character-driven narrative, and many considered it an improvement over Fishmonger. Several publications featured it on their year-end lists.